1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a liquid container adapted to contain a liquid that is to be supplied to a liquid consuming apparatus; and to a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
An ink cartridge adapted to contain ink, and an inkjet recording device in which such an ink cartridge may be detachably installed, are one example of a liquid container and a liquid consuming apparatus.
An exemplary conventional liquid container is the known liquid container illustrated in FIG. 10 of Patent Citation 1, which is designed to be detachably installed on a liquid consuming apparatus and which within a receptacle body (10) that is placed in service by being installed on the liquid consuming apparatus includes a liquid storage chamber (370, 390) for storing the liquid; a liquid feed hole (50) for feeding the liquid held in the liquid storage chamber to the liquid consuming apparatus; and an air vent hole (100) for drawing air from the outside into the liquid storage chamber in association with consumption of the liquid inside the liquid storage chamber; and in which the liquid storage chamber is divided into two chambers, specifically, a first liquid storage chamber (370) situated at the upstream end and a second liquid storage chamber (390) situated at the downstream end with respect to the direction of flow of the liquid towards the liquid feed hole (50) during service.
According to this prior art example, because the liquid storage chamber is divided into two chambers, air bubbles will not readily infiltrate through the liquid feed hole even if the liquid container is subjected to shock due to being dropped, for example. However, in this prior art example, outlets and inlets for air and liquid to the first and second liquid storage chambers (370, 390) are situated in a dispersed manner. In particular, the outlet and inlet of the flow channel connecting the first and second liquid storage chambers (370, 390) (the outlet from the first liquid storage chamber 370 is indicated by symbol 371) are situated straddling the second liquid storage chamber 390 in the vertical direction so as to be separated from one another by a distance equivalent to the entire height of the second liquid storage chamber (i.e. half the height of the receptacle body).
For this reason, in this prior art example, during filling of the first and second liquid storage chambers (370, 390) with liquid, since flow channel resistance to liquid flowing from the second liquid storage chamber (390) towards the first liquid storage chamber (370) will be greater in association with greater distance separating the outlet and inlet of the flow channel connecting the first and second liquid storage chambers (370, 390) (the second upstream opening and the first downstream opening), as a result it was difficult to fill them with liquid quickly. Also, since the base faces of the first and second liquid storage chambers (370, 390) are sloped only slightly, liquid tended to remain there.
While this drawback may be overcome by making the incline of the base face steeper, with the container oriented in the attitude for charging, i.e. an attitude with the liquid feed hole (50) facing upward, the second upstream opening will be situated at a location below that part of the second liquid storage chamber (390) that is oriented uppermost in this attitude. This creates the problem that the second liquid storage chamber (390) cannot be filled with liquid when the second liquid storage chamber (390) is being charged with liquid via the liquid feed hole (50).
Patent Citation 2 discloses a method for charging a liquid into a liquid container that has two ink storage chambers. However, a drawback of the liquid container disclosed in Patent Citation 2 is that since the base faces of the liquid storage chambers are horizontal, liquid tends to remain inside.
Patent Citation 1: JP Unexamined Patent Publication 2008-044194
Patent Citation 2: JP Unexamined Patent Publication 2006-306035